Of Preschool, Tears and Blue Eyes
by Eredis
Summary: The day Eli Goldsworthy ran over Clare Edwards' glasses wasn't their first encounter, although they thought otherwise. The story of their first meeting goes all the way back to Greendew Preschool. She's the reason he's loved blue eyes all along. One-shot.


**A/N: Hey guys. I've been meaning to write more fanfics, and update **_**Wait For Me, **_**but things have been pretty complicated. The fact that I had to transfer schools and catch up on all the material is bad enough, but you could say I'm also having some family issues at home. All this is mixed with all the other drama in my life. Sigh.**

**Anyway, this is something I wrote a little while ago. I've always loved the idea of Clare and Eli having met each other before Degrassi, and wondered how it could have happened. And so this one-shot was born. Sorry for the craptastic title :P Nontheless, enjoy.**

* * *

It was Clare Edwards' first day at Greendew Preschool. Her mom had dressed her up in a pretty light blue dress, to match her eyes. Her ginger-auburn hair was done in two pigtails. She gripped her small backpack as they drove to the preschool; she was very nervous, but at the same time, beside herself with excitement.

The ride was short, and as soon as they were there, Mrs. Edwards held her daughter's hand as she helped her get out of the car and walked towards the school building. It was small and colorful, rainbows and trees painted on the outside of the building. The playground was rather large, with swings, slides, a sandbox and many other things for the children to play with.

Clare's eyes were in constant movement, trying to take in every bit of her surroundings. She was a curious four year old, Clare Edwards. She stumbled a few times because she wasn't paying attention where she was going, but at least she had her mother to guide her.

And then they reached the preschool's entrance and walked inside to the waiting room. It was even more colorful on the inside than it was on the outside. A perky looking middle-aged woman known as Mrs. Hodgins gave them a quick tour of the preschool. There were brightly colored desks in the classroom, which was decorated with multicolored posters depicting animals or numbers. The room next to the classroom was the lunch room, full of small tables and chairs, and next to that was the nap room.

Unsurprisingly, Clare and her mom had been the first to arrive, but other children and their parents had started to arrive soon enough. Clare watched all the children with fascination. She was not used to being around so many kids her age.

Suddenly, Mrs. Hodgins announced that it was time for the parents to leave. Clare didn't want to be alone with all these strangers, she didn't want her mommy to leave. The other kids felt the same as she did.

Mrs. Edwards tried to comfort her daughter. "Shh, it's going to be fine, Clare. Mrs. Hodgins is a very nice lady and I'm sure she'll take good care of you while I'm gone!"

"B-but mommy! I don't know anyone here!" Clare pleaded with her mother, tears in her eyes, still clutching her hand tightly.

"You'll get to know them, and I'm sure you'll make plenty of friends, a lovely little girl like you," her mother replied.

Clare looked a bit more happy at her mother's words, but she was still upset, so Mrs. Edwards continued to comfort her. "Besides, it's not like I'm leaving you here forever, Clare. I'm picking you up later."

Clare looked up at her mom and sniffled. "You promise?"

"Yes, I promise sweety. Now give mommy a kiss good-bye and I'll see you later."

Clare hugged her mom tightly and kissed her cheek. As her mom walked out the doors, Clare wiped a tear from her cheek and rubbed her eyes. Suddenly, Mrs. Hodgins spoke up. "All right children, it's time for class! Now just follow me inside the classroom and stand in the front so I can assign your seats!"

Clare fidgeted with her backpack strap as walked into the classroom behind the teacher. Clare nervously looked at the floor as Mrs. Hodgins started to read everyone's name one by one from a list and assigned their seats, in a boy then girl formation.

"Clare Edwards!" Mrs. Hodgins said unexpectedly and Clare almost leaped in fright, "You can sit right there, in front of George Donner." She pointed her pen at a short, red haired kid, and Clare took her seat in front of him.

Mrs. Hodgins continued to assign seats. "Steven Fields, in front of Clare. Kelly Gillard, in front of Steven..."

After everyone had a seat, Mrs. Hodgins introduced herself and started to talk about how great this year would be, and how they could all become great friends and have loads of fun. After that little speech, Mrs. Hodgins told the class to stand up and introduce themselves, one by one, and say something they liked to do. Clare watched as every kid stood and said their names and hobby, not wanting her turn to come. But it came too fast, in her opinion.

She shakily stood up and talked in a small voice. "M-my name is Clare Edwards, and I like to draw." As she sat back down, Clare noticed that it hadn't been that big of a deal after all. Heck, preschool might not be as bad as she thought.

After everyone had properly introduced themselves, Mrs. Hodgins decided to give everyone a treat by letting them out to the playground early, so they could interact and have fun. "Only because it's the first day though! Don't expect it every single day!" she said as the children cheered and practically ran outside. Clare took her time though, so she was one of the last to leave the classroom.

Once outside, Clare looked around. Everyone had already claimed the swings, the line for the slides was long. Some girls were playing hopscotch, but seeing as she didn't know how to play and she was too shy to ask how, she didn't join them. She saw some boys playing with a ball by the monkey bars, so she made her way to them, hoping they'd ask her to join the game. That didn't happen though.

As soon as the boys saw her coming, they stopped playing and one of them walked up to her. "You can't play with us."

Clare, oblivious as to why she could not join their game, wanted to know why she couldn't play. "Why?"

The boy looked at her as if she should have known the answer. "_Why? _Because you're girl! We don't let girls play with us, _stupid._"

Clare was taken aback at the boy's attitude. "I-I'm not stupid! Mommy says that I-I'm-"

She was cut off by the boy. "Oh, mommy says you're smart? Mommy says you're special? She's just sorry you're so _stupid_."

Clare was getting angry and sad. Even though she knew that this boy had to be lying, tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Y-you're lying!"

The boy was about to talk back when he noticed the tears in Clare's eyes, and decided to use this to his advantage. "Look!" he said as he looked over his shoulder to the boys behind him, "She's gonna _cry!"_

Clare was struggling to hold back her tears, so before she could give the boys the pleasure of crying in front of them, she turned around and walked away.

She heard one of them shout after her, "That's right! Go!"

Clare couldn't believe those boys. How could they be so _mean_? Her mom had lied to her, she wasn't making any friends. And if she lied about that, maybe that boy _was _right, maybe her mom had been lying to her whenever she called her smart. Maybe she was stupid after all. She walked to the empty sandbox, where she sat down and finally let her tears fall.

She was looking down at the sand, tears rolling down her cheeks, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw it was a boy her age. She almost told him to go away, thinking it was one of the boys that made fun of her earlier, but she realized he hadn't been one of them. He had longish chocolate colored hair, which clung to his green eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he sat down next to her in the sandbox.

Clare just nodded her head in the direction of the boys playing with a ball near the monkey bars. The green eyed boy understood quickly.

"Those guys? They're just big meanies. Don't listen to them. How did they make you cry?"

Clare sniffled before answering. "T-they said I was s-stupid, and that my mom thought I was s-stupid too."

"You're not stupid, _they're _the stupid ones for being bullies."

Clare gave him a small smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. So don't cry, my mom says crying makes you look ugly."

Tears welled in her eyes again. Great, first she was called stupid and _now _she was called _ugly_?

The boy's eyes widened as he understood his mistake, and hastily tried to fix it. "N-no, that's not what I mean! Y-you're not ugly," Clare looked up at him, sniffling, and he noticed her eyes sparkled in the sunlight, "You have pretty eyes."

He looked away, somewhat shyly, as Clare looked down at the sand and smiled. "Thanks. You're nicer than the other boys here. What's your name?"

"Eli. Goldsworthy," he said, and Clare looked up him.

"I'm Clare," she said, smiling. Eli smiled back.

He suddenly stood up from the sandbox and stuck out his hand. "So, do you wanna go play?"

She took his hand and gripped it as she got up. "Sure."

Ever since that playground incident, Eli and Clare turned into the best of friends. That is, until Eli's dad was offered a higher paying job in Ottawa, and he had to move away just three months later. Clare missed her best friend at first, but as time passed, she made other friends in preschool. Eli had a tough time adapting to the new house and unfamiliar setting, but he learned to adjust.

Their memories of each other started to fade away with the years, gradually, until they were completely forgotten.

Little did they know that many years later they'd meet each other again. And in that fateful encounter, after running over her glasses, Eli felt some sort of strange déjá vu as he complimented her eyes. He hadn't meant to voice his thoughts, actually, the words just slipped out.

Even if he didn't remember the bright eyed, little girl from so long ago, he knew -somehow- that she was the reason why he's always loved blue eyes.

* * *

**Thoughts? I'd love to hear them in a review. So click away and send me your opinion! Constructive criticism is always welcome.**


End file.
